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First-Year Writing Program

First-year-writing courses at UIC are informed by the concept of situated writing—the view that writing is crafted in response to a particular situation, within a certain context, and for a specific audience, all of which influences the genres used and forms the writing takes. FYWP courses invite students to participate in ongoing public conversations about vitally important academic and public issues.

A student's ability to write—that is, to conceptualize, articulate, and craft a response or an argument—is crucial to a successful undergraduate education. All undergraduate students at UIC are required to take a two-semester series of first-year-writing courses: English 160 and English 161. Participation in a preparatory course is required for students whose placement tests indicate they would benefit from additional, focused writing practice before taking English 160.

Preparatory courses include English 070, which focuses on the needs of non-native speakers of English, and English 071, which focuses on developmental writing in preparation for English 160. Both preparatory courses feature smaller class sizes than English 160 and 161.